Best Food Sensitivity Test?

My doctor suggest the ALCAT food sensitivity test. I did a search here at PaleoHacks and was disturbed to find a link to this video in which a chiro in CA had 6 blood samples taken at the same time. He sent 3 to ALCAT and 3 to LEAP MRT. The ALCAT results were not consistent for the 3 tests, whereas the LEAP test results were consistent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJpGmyrxTU

I'm presently on a pretty restricted diet so I don't want a test that requires me to have eaten the item being tested.

4
Answers

The red arrows indicate foods which were on my short list of reactive foods based on my 3.5 years of food diary.

Here's a link:

http://postimg.org/image/idmu8trtf/

http://postimg.org/image/jxaccjqaf/

The most interesting result is tyramine which I knew to avoid based on my 20 year history of migraines.

Foods high in tyramine overlap closely with high histamine foods (foods that make me have sneezing fits).

Out of the blue a few weeks ago, I developed severe joint/knee pain so I decided to eliminate foods containing the toxin Solanine (in nightshades: potato, tomato, peppers).

It was only after seeing this 3 minute video preview of this book about nightshades that I learned that solanine is not water soluble and accumulates in your body. You can only eliminate about 1%-2% per day, so it might take 50-100 days for all of it to get out of your system.

Link to video preview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDnFVDGb1wE

Here's a link to the book (which was excellent!): http://www.nightshadefree.com/

It's too soon to tell if the nightshade thing will be relevant.

I concluded it's not likely to be sulfites for me. Though I might have spotted a pattern with french fries while eating out, I also found a pattern with fresh cut potatoes prepared at home (that's why I was revisiting nightshades).

A few days ago I decided to isolate just mozzarella cheese from pizza (and cut it myself from a block of cheese instead of buying shredded cheese which contained potato starch). I had the identical bad reaction I've had before: muscle knot in the center of my back and sneezing fits. (Both could be from tyramine & histamine in the cheese).

My next experiment will be a welch's white grape juice challenge to finally put to bed one way or another the sulfite question.

Obviously, I have lots more work to do, but in summary: I found this leap MRT test to be very much worthwhile. I don't think anyone should get this test and rely on the results as an absolute. Rather, use it as the basis for elimination/challenge experiments.

I think the premise of this test is mostly eat foods you don't react to, and rotate foods you do react to. I'll know more after my consult with my doctor on Friday.

A few days ago, I saw a complimentary medicine doc (who actually is related to me). I was hoping she would have some insight into my 23andme methylation report and perhaps any connections between that and my chronic tension headaches/muscle cramps.

Unfortunately, she wasn't of much help in that regard. However, since I came armed with 3 years of food diary experiences, and a list of foods that seemed to be a problem for me, she suggested food sensitivity testing.

Years ago, I have IGG (I think) conventional allergy testing done, and it only showed a reaction to yeast and pineapple.

The suggested an ALCAT test, which I later learned was an early version of what is now LEAP MRT.

While researching ALCAT, I found this rather disturbing review (comparing ALCAT and LEAP MRT) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJpGmyrxTU

Basically, a doctor had 6 blood samples draw at the same time, and sent 3 to alcat and 3 to LEAP MRT for analysis. The 3 alcat test results were completely different (essentially worthless). The 3 LEAP tests were fairly consistent. However, he was just testing split-sample reliability/consistency, not accuracy. For this reason, I decided not to get the alcat from her.

Then, I contacted LEAP MRT (www.nowleap.com). They said the test is MSRP at $1,000, but the normally discount it to $600, and this month, they are having a sale for $500.

On a whim, I contacted my paleo osteopath doctor to see what type of food sensitivity testing he does. Turns out his does LEAP MRT too, at $399. So, that's where I went at lunch today.

I don't know how accurate or useful this will be, but any clue would be welcome because I not nailed this down in the last 3.5 years.

The most interesting result is tyramine which I knew to avoid based on my 20 year history of migraines.

Foods high in tyramine overlap closely with high histamine foods (foods that make me have sneezing fits).

Out of the blue a few weeks ago, I developed severe joint/knee pain so I decided to eliminate foods containing the toxin Solanine (in nightshades: potato, tomato, peppers).

It was only after seeing this 3 minute video preview of this book about nightshades that I learned that solanine is not water soluble and accumulates in your body. You can only eliminate about 1%-2% per day, so it might take 50-100 days for all of it to get out of your system.

I concluded it's not likely to be sulfites for me. Though I might have spotted a pattern with french fries while eating out, I also found a pattern with fresh cut potatoes prepared at home (that's why I was revisiting nightshades).

A few days ago I decided to isolate just mozzarella cheese from pizza (and cut it myself from a block of cheese instead of buying shredded cheese which contained potato starch). I had the identical bad reaction I've had before: muscle knot in the center of my back and sneezing fits. (Both could be from tyramine & histamine in the cheese).

My next experiment will be a welch's white grape juice challenge to finally put to bed one way or another the sulfite question.

Obviously, I have lots more work to do, but in summary: I found this leap MRT test to be very much worthwhile. I don't think anyone should get this test and rely on the results as an absolute. Rather, use it as the basis for elimination/challenge experiments.

I think the premise of this test is mostly eat foods you don't react to, and rotate foods you do react to. I'll know more after my consult with my doctor on Friday.

A few days ago, I saw a complimentary medicine doc (who actually is related to me). I was hoping she would have some insight into my 23andme methylation report and perhaps any connections between that and my chronic tension headaches/muscle cramps.

Unfortunately, she wasn't of much help in that regard. However, since I came armed with 3 years of food diary experiences, and a list of foods that seemed to be a problem for me, she suggested food sensitivity testing.
Years ago, I have IGG (I think) conventional allergy testing done, and it only showed a reaction to yeast and pineapple.
The suggested an ALCAT test, which I later learned was an early version of what is now LEAP MRT.
While researching ALCAT, I found this rather disturbing review (comparing ALCAT and LEAP MRT) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJpGmyrxTU

Basically, a doctor had 6 blood samples draw at the same time, and sent 3 to alcat and 3 to LEAP MRT for analysis. The 3 alcat test results were completely different (essentially worthless). The 3 LEAP tests were fairly consistent. However, he was just testing split-sample reliability/consistency, not accuracy. For this reason, I decided not to get the alcat from her.

Then, I contacted LEAP MRT (www.nowleap.com). They said the test is MSRP at $1,000, but the normally discount it to $600, and this month, they are having a sale for $500.

On a whim, I contacted my paleo osteopath doctor to see what type of food sensitivity testing he does. Turns out his doesLEAP MRT too, at $399. So, that's where I went at lunch today.

I don't know how accurate or useful this will be, but any clue would be welcome because I not nailed this down in the last 3.5 years.